German International School DubaiPrincipal & Leadership Team

Schulleiter (School Director) Michael Lummel has led German International School Dubai since 1 August 2019, providing a period of sustained, focused leadership that has delivered measurable results. Under his stewardship, the school completed its Leitbild (mission statement) project, accelerated its STEM/MINT agenda, and drove a comprehensive digitalization programme. The most tangible outcome of this direction came in the 2023–24 KHDA inspection, when DISD achieved its first-ever 'Very Good' overall rating — ending a run of nine consecutive 'Good' ratings stretching back to 2011. Inspectors recorded approximately 37 improved ratings across the inspection framework, representing one of the most significant single-cycle improvements seen among Dubai's German-curriculum schools. As the only German-curriculum school in Dubai, DISD occupies a unique position, and its rating trajectory now places it among the stronger performers in the city.

The leadership effectiveness, school self-evaluation and improvement planning, governance, and management, staffing, facilities and resources were all rated Very Good in 2023–24. The school's Advisory Board (Auslandsschulverein) — a non-profit overseas school association — was specifically commended by inspectors for acting professionally in supporting school development. The senior leadership team is structured across phases: Inga Rehbein serves as Grundschulleitung (Primary Head), supported by Deputy Primary Head Anja Beckert, while the Kindergarten is led by Tanja Meyer Marelja and Deputy Kindergarten Head Julia Badrakhan. Inspectors highlighted the successful actions taken by the principal and senior leaders to improve the school as a headline strength. Areas requiring further attention include consolidating a shared understanding of assessment practice across all phases and ensuring improvement plans are systematically updated from self-evaluation outcomes.

With 97 teachers and 946 students, DISD operates at a student-to-teacher ratio of 1:10 — notably more favourable than the Dubai citywide average of 1:13.6 across 204 schools with ratio data. This smaller class environment supports the personalised approach that inspectors observed, noting that teachers know their students very well and create conducive learning environments throughout all phases. Teaching for effective learning was rated Very Good across all four phases — KG, Primary, Secondary 1 and Secondary 2 — reflecting a consistently strong instructional standard. Assessment practice, however, was rated Good across all phases, and remains an identified development priority, particularly around peer-and-self-assessment and progress tracking for different student groups. [MISSING: staff qualification percentages — no data on Masters-level or higher qualification rates provided in sources]

Parent engagement is structured and active. The school operates an Elternbeirat (Parent Council), parent forums, and a dedicated DaF-Elterncafé for families of German-as-a-foreign-language learners. Inspectors rated Parents and the Community as Very Good, noting that relationships are respectful and supported by open channels of communication, and that parent involvement was explicitly cited as a school highlight. Staff retention data is not published, though the stability of the current principal's tenure and the structured phase-leadership team suggest organisational continuity. The school is operated as an independent non-profit association (Auslandsschulverein), supported by the German federal government through the ZfA and Bundesverwaltungsamt — an unusual governance model in Dubai's predominantly commercially-operated private school landscape.